The Other Fall Ball, A Hiring and Rumors

With the rain in St. Louis making most of the headlines on Wednesday there was little said about the boys on the Northside of Chicago. The Cubs did make a change in their front office on Wednesday and announced that Paul Weaver will be the new special assistant to the general manager. Weaver has been a Major League scout for the past 28 years. Weaver, 54, worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks for the past 2 seasons and before that for the Houston Astros from 1980 to 2004 and he started with the San Diego Padres in 1978.

The Mesa Solar Sox are nearing the midway point of their season and the representatives from the Cubs are playing extremely well....especially Eric Patterson. Joe Girardi, Gary Sheffield, Scott Boras, Alex Rodriguez, Andruw Jones and World Series ratings....here is the latest....

The Mesa Solar Sox and the AFL....

The Solar Sox stand at 7-7 on the season with 18 games left to play. They lost to Scottsdale on Wednesday, 7-5. Eric Patterson raised his average to .347 with 2 more hits, that included a triple and a run scored. Scott Moore added a double, while playing in left field, and a RBI and Jake Fox did not record a hit.

Eric Patterson in the first 11 games was hitting .333/388/.400/.788 with 3 doubles, 4 walks, 6 stolen bases and 11 runs scored. Patterson has played most of his games at 2nd base but has spent time at shortstop. Scott Moore has struggled in Arizona and through his first 11 games he is hitting just .231/.362/.385/.746 with 1 home run, 6 RBI's, 8 walks and 3 doubles. Jake Fox after a hot start has slowed down. Fox's average dropped to .207 after Wednesday's 0-3 performance. In his first 7 games, Fox was hitting .231/.259/.308/.567 without a home run, 7 RBI's, 2 doubles and a walk. Fox has really cooled off after going 5-13 at one stretch last week....he has added only 1 hit since.

Here are the pitchers stats:

Lincoln Holdzkom: 1-0/0.00, 5 games, 8 innings, 1 run, 2 hits, 0 walks, 8 k's
Adam Harben: 0-1/6.43, 3 games, 3 starts, 7 innings, 5 runs, 10 hits, 4 walks, 7 k's
Clay Rapada: 1-1/1.59, 6 games, 5 2/3 innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 2 walks, 9 k's
Carmen Pignatiello: 0-0/0.00, 4 games, 3 2/3 innings, 0 runs, 1 walk, 4 k's

Joe Girardi....

ESPN reported late Wednesday night that Joe Girardi will spend next season in the broadcast booth.

Alex Rodriguez, Scott Boras and Andruw Jones....

There should be a special place for agents like Scott Boras. What is the line from Jerry Maguire? Scott Boras made more headlines on Wednesday....more than most of the Major League teams. According to a report from ESPN, Brian Cashman reassured Scott Boras that the Yankees will not trade A-Rod this off-season. Boras also made headlines in the Atlanta Journal Constitution in regards to Andruw Jones. Boras said the Jones will remain a Brave for the 2007 season and that the star centerfielder will not be traded. He also went on to state that Jones' new contract will "dwarf the 6-year, $75 million dollar contract" that is about to expire. Jones has no-trade protection as a 10-and-5 player with 10 years of Major League service and 5 with his current team. The Atlanta Journal Constitution is speculating that Boras could ask for upwards of $20 million a year for Jones when he hits the free agent market next year.

Gary Sheffield....

According to the New York Daily News, the Yankees will pickup Sheffield's $13 million dollar option with the sole purpose of trading him. Most of Sheffield's contract for next season will be deferred and the Cubs are one of many teams that have reportedly shown interest.

World Series Ratings....

While MLB continues to say baseball is at an all time high apparently someone forgot to tell the American public to watch the World Series. The ratings from Game 3 were the lowest for a Game 3 in World Series history. The first 3 games of the series have also hit an all time low, in fact the lowest in history as well.

Well, that's the news and I'm sticking to it!!

Neil

Aaron, I like your comparison of Theriot to Eckstein. Their Minor League numbers are close but Eckstein's are better. Theriot has a big upside and I like his hustle and heart...not counting his OBP. It will be an interesting battle if both Theriot and Cedeno are still with the Cubs come Spring Training.

edo

Well i stopped reading when your listing wood asa good free agent buy

and secondly listing Prior anywhere as a cubs starter.

To me anyone that lists those 2 as starters in any way shape or form is delusional

Aaron

Look, Sheff is way past his prime...think Moises Alou. The fact is, the Cubs need to get younger---think Carl Crawford, Zito, Willis, maybe even Pagan can develop into an everyday player in the mold of Beltran (who I think was a waste of 100 mill anyway). Andruw Jones would be too pricey and often seems indifferent anyhow, and I think the Cubs should lock up guys like Zambrano, ARAM, Theriot (who I think can be the next Eckstein, but better) and build from there.

Here's what I wrote before in the blog about "time to build a winner"....

Here's a list of a few names to consider:

starting pitchers-Tony Armas, Adam Eaton, Mark Mulder, Andy Pettitte, Jason Schmidt, Jeff Weaver, Barry Zito, Kerry Wood, Randy Wolf, Ted Lilly

relief pitchers- Chad Bradford, Eric Gagne, Todd Sauerbeck, Guillermo Mota, Octavio Dotel, Arthur Rhodes, Scott Schoenweiss

Other positions- Darin Erstad, Jose Guillen, Gabe Kapler, Carlos Lee, Kenny Lofton, Gary Matthews Jr, Trot Nixon, Alfonso Soriano, Scott Speizio, Shannon Stewart, Gary Sheffield, Juan Pierre, Julio Lugo

Now, I realize most of the guys I mentioned are over 30, but what if the Cubs were able to get at least 1 or 2 from every category I mentioned. I mean, these are sure-fire free agents. We wouldn't be giving up anything in return.

The experiment of Novoa should end, as should the perpetual experiment of recycling veterans that are far far past their primes. Dusty overworked Eyre and Howry so badly that I would expect regression from them. It blows my mind that we have such a pitching rich farm system and we still can't find guys to fill our rotation and bullpen that are consistent and good. Look what the Sox did years ago when they made the youth movement and white flag trade. They let the young guys play and prove themselves, and put young starters in the bullpen to gain experience. What a waste of a year this was. We kept throwing veterans out there. For what? They didn't do anything. That's the whole point of this sad franchise. Management is so clueless. We were a proud franchise up until 1945. After that, it's all been downhill. Call it the Billy Goat curse....but I call it the Management Curse. I know before, I had radical changes in the afformentioned blog, but keeping it more realistic, let's go with this:

rotation: Zambrano, Hill, Mateo, Miller, Armas, and Prior as a bonus

bullpen: Wuertz (one last chance), Sauerbeck (replaces Ohman), Marmol (replaces Novoa), Eyre, Howry, Marshall (replaces Rusch as long man), and Dempster/Dotel/Mota would be your closer

Bench-Cedeno, Moore, Blanco, Pagan, Speizio

C-Barrett

1b-D Lee

2nd-Theriot

ss-Izturis

3b-ARAM

LF-C Lee/Manny Ramirez (if available)

CF-Matthews Jr

RF-Soriano

Jim

We would have to give up way to much to get Sheff. Also he is brokendown and I don't like him. I would rather have him than Jones buy I don't think the Yankees will take a Jones and Rusch for Sheff.